Niko Page 6

  ***

  When she woke again she couldn’t move. Experimentally, she jerked at the restraints that kept her arms and legs pinned to the bed. They didn’t budge.

  She sighed loudly and glared at Ben and Arianne, who wisely stood at the foot of the bed, safely out of reach. Ben sported two black eyes and she smiled wolfishly at him. Instead of flinching back or paling, he gave her a slow grin of his own.

  Arianne coughed lightly into her hand. “As much as I’d hate to pop those rosy little love bubbles of yours, Ben, I don’t think she likes you.”

  “Pity.” He murmured.

  “Now,” Ari clasped her hands together. “As inhospitable as it is for us to keep you tied to the bed – though I suppose Ben appreciates the chance to leer at your body uninterrupted.” She nudged him. “Go ahead, Ben. Leer.”

  He promptly began to do so.

  “We’d love to show you the rest of our beautiful home.” She continued as Ben’s eyes traveled lingeringly up and down Niko’s form. “But you’ve already proven yourself to be extremely violent. Frankly, I’m afraid that if we untie you you’ll attack us again and is that any way to treat your rescuers? No. So if you promise not to attack us anymore we’ll take off the restraints.” Casually, she jabbed her elbow into Ben’s stomach. “As a bonus Ben will stop staring at you like he has no manners.”

  This had to be the weirdest group of people she’d ever met. No part of her wanted to agree with them. She wished she had Toothy, but even her bat would be useless if she couldn’t use her hands. Nor could she find her brother while strapped down to the bed.

  “I won’t hurt you.” She promised, trying to look as innocent as possible. She could always get them later.

  Ben glanced at Ari; he was bent slightly, a hand pressed to his injured midsection. “Somehow, I don’t believe her.”

  Ari shrugged. “Neither do I, but what can we do? The Director wants to see her.”

  “The Director’s eating with us?” Ben asked. For the first time Niko heard a small grain of fear touch his voice. When Ari nodded he sighed. “I guess this means I should go change.”

  Without a backward glance he headed for the door. He exited the room, leaving the two girls by themselves.

  Ari unbuckled the straps holding Niko down, keeping a wary eye on her the whole time. When Niko didn’t so much as twitch, she relaxed slightly and helped her sit up.

  “I’m going to get you some clothes,” she said, stepping back. “Why don’t you go wash up in there, and I’ll be right back.”

  She left too and then Niko was all alone in the white room. She carefully got out of the bed, waiting to be certain that her feet could support her before she took a step.

  She stumbled to the door that both Ari and Ben had gone through, grasping the cold metal knob between her hands. She rattled it: locked.

  She turned around, pressing her back against the door as her eyes scanned the room for an escape route. There were no windows and the only door that was left led to where Ari said she could go wash up.

  Niko stumbled back toward the bed. She needed to find a weapon, but there was nothing there, and she didn’t bother trying to lift the restraints. Previous experience told her that would be a wasted effort.

  She pressed her head against the mattress, already exhausted by the brief spurt of activity. She wanted to rest but she had to hurry. Wheeling around, she headed for the second door. Inside, was a smaller white room, similar to the first except it didn’t have a bed. It was like no place she’d ever seen before. In one corner was a tall box made out of foggy glass and nearby, a large pit had been dug into the floor, strange knobs protruding out of one end. Against one wall were two stands with bowls on top, the taller one had the same weird knobs as the pit, the shorter one was covered by a lid.

  Niko took a step forward and was halted by the sight of her reflection. A few months earlier some kids in the neighborhood had found a mirror shard and they’d had a bit of fun seeing their image reflected back at them and playing light games. Then one of the children cut themselves and died of infection and the mirror quickly disappeared.

  The mirror she stood before today allowed her to see her whole face and not one feature at a time. She had skin the color of toasted brown sugar and full lips currently sporting a slight frown. Her hair was cut short, naps shorn as close to the scalp as possible.

  She tugged at the shoulder of her paper gown pulling down the right side to reveal the top part of her chest. Niko rubbed the area the arrow had penetrated, she vividly remembered the pain of being shot but there was no scar to show where the shaft had gone in. How was that even possible?

  She pressed her hand against the mirror. It bent slightly under the pressure. Here was her weapon. She curled her fingers into a fist and drew her hand back.

  The bedroom knob rattled and she hastily dropped her hand as the door opened.

  Niko reeled away from the mirror and began searching for wet wipes to wash with.

  “I think you’ll like the dress,” Ari said as she placed two outfits on the bed, “I tried to find something as close to your size as possible. You didn’t have any trouble with the tub or anything?”

  Niko ignored her babbling, still searching for the wet wipes. How did they expect her to wash up with no cloth to clean herself with? She examined the four objects in the room and gave a small, satisfied sound when she lifted the lid of the smaller stand and found water.

  She sank to her knees before it; she had to remember she was in the city now where people were rich enough to waste opulent amounts of water. She was about to dip her hands inside and splash her face when Ari screamed.

  She stood in the bathroom doorway, an absolutely horrified expression on her face. “What are you doing?”

  Niko blinked in confusion. “I’m washing up...” She paused, trying to remember the word Ari had used. “In the tub.”

  Ari made a horrified sound in the back of her throat. “That’s the toilet.”

  She marched forward and hauled Niko up by her arm and dragged her toward the pit. “This is the tub.” She turned some of the knobs and a torrent of water gushed out. “This is where you go when you want to take a bath.” She slapped a button and the tub began to fill with water while Niko watched in amazement.

  “Gods,” Ari said as she loosened the ties to Niko’s gown, “I hope I wasn’t like this when I first arrived.”

  Ari peeled off Niko’s gown and gently coaxed her into the tub. The water was shockingly warm, practically hot, with steam coming off the surface. The most amazing thing about it was that there was still more water coming out. She had never used so much water in her life, even the extra she used to wash clothes was made into coffee the next morning.

  With another twist of the knobs the water shut off and she sat in a reservoir as high as her chest.

  After a few seconds of digging in the cabinets, Ari returned with several bottles. “I love this one,” Ari said uncapping the bottle and pouring its contents into the tub. “Orange spice. You like?”

  Niko nodded once and Ari reached out and pressed another button. Suddenly the water was pummeling Niko and it boiled and frothed around her. She shrieked.

  Ari laughed softly and the pummeling stopped. “Okay, no jets.”

  She scrubbed Niko’s back with a sponge, turning the water cloudy. She hummed softly under her breath as she massaged Niko’s scalp. “You’re going to have to let your hair grow if you stay with us. The Director likes women to have long hair.”

  Niko didn’t care what the Director liked; long hair was harder to clean and used more water. These people might have obscene amounts of water to waste but she and her brother’s weekly ration could probably fit in that little receptacle Ari called a toilet.

  After stepping out of the tub and watching all of the perfectly reusable water get sucked down a hole, Ari showed her the dress she was to wear to dinner. It was a deep crimson, with a fitted bodice, and short off the shoulder sleeves. The skirt hit
her knees and flared out slightly.

  To finish, Ari wrapped a small corset, decorated with vertical black and white stripes, around her waist.

  Ari’s dress was a black shimmery number that bared her back completely and pooled around her feet. She twisted her hair up and Niko caught sight of the image tattooed onto her back. It was of a trellis rose rendered in harsh spiky black lines onto her skin. Ari secured her hair with a long red pin and noticed Niko staring.

  “It’s the insignia of our Circle. That’s why we’re wearing something red to dinner.”

  She slipped a pair of shoes onto Niko’s feet. Niko wiggled her toes dubiously, they revealed so much skin her feet hardly had any protection at all.

  Ari caught her look. “The Director likes for our feet to show,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t walk outside with these though, not unless you want to come back home on nubs.”

  “Why can’t I go barefoot?” Niko grumbled.

  Ari tightened the strap around her ankle. “Don’t be silly, the Director’s eating with us. You can go casual another time.”

  Niko had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the Director much.